QPRnet Blogs

A quick summary of our season to date: 28 points ,19 Games, 3 managers, 0 loaned players (OK maybe a half for Helguson…).  Sound like a good time for a team report blog… 

Goalkeepers:

After a slow start Cerny has proved to be a capable keeper.  His catching of crosses and control of the penalty box has improved, and whilst his still punches too much for my liking, he gets good distance.  Whilst I feel sorry for Lee Camp, I’ve not really missed him.  What worries me though is lack of depth if Camp goes permanently. 

Full backs:

For me this is the area of greatest concern.  Delany hasn’t lived up to last years level of play, Ramage is adequate at defending but poor going forward.  There is no depth so Matt Connolly usually ends up covering, which isn’t his best position.  I did think Legs was a revelation at right back the game and a half he played there, but we need to get competition for places. 

Centre backs:

OK hands up who thought Damion Stewart would be our best central defender this year?  He and hall have developed a good partnership and with Gorkss and Connolly as back ups, I am more than happy with our centre back squad. 

Midfield:

I’ve lumped this lot together, as Im not sure on what formation we are playing and, therefore how to split them up.  We have three defensive midfielders, which seems one too many, but they are at least decent enough.  We have lots of wingers, but not enough crosses, Rowly looks jaded, Cook looks like he needs more games under his belt, Ladesma has gone off the boil and Parejo never got there.  The injury to Buzz is a great concern.  So much for the “best midfield in the league” chant… 

Forwards:

I feel sorry for Dex, he gets so much jip, yet he is on target to be a 20 goal a season striker (despite everyone banging on about how we need one – we already do FFS!!!!).  His biggest problem is that he hasn’t had a settled partner, he often plays on his own, and the service from the wings he thrives upon (look back at how he scores his goals) hasn’t been coming.  Di Camine could come good, but needs to get more strength from somewhere and maybe some pace?  Dave is a useful impact sub but doesn’t do it for 90 mins.  We need a striker to partner Dex IMO. 

So with the January transfer window approaching I would suggest we need to go out and get 2 full backs, a striker and Ben Watson.  If we do that we can easily make the playoffs.  We are only 1 point off them now – and yet it feels like we’ve been in turmoil all season.  This has been an improvement on last season but we need stability right now.  Im just not sure that is guaranteed.

We’ve all been a little down lately, laughed at, outplayed, humiliated and generally a disgrace. The balanced view is that we should look to a year ago and see what we have now. This is sensible and shows a maturity and clarity of thought that has no place in the common football fan.

We are angry, we have a right to be angry and we have a right to stop being angry for no good reason other than 3 points at home! That is why we are football fans. So we’ve boarded the pessimista express and are hurtling towards our perceived oblivion (or mid table obscurity as we sometimes know it).

But are we missing something here? Yes we have tradition, years of loyal service, a sense of righteousness and hearts that are hoped, but are we in danger of missing out on our one opportunity for a ticket to the top table? Whose to say Mr Briatore isn’t embarking on the correct path?

Fundamentally we had stalled as a club. We were living off a vague memory of life at the top some ten years back, even then it wasn’t great, you have to go back to the eighties for our last decent team. We are not being run badly now, we’ve been run badly for a long time, the laughing started way back.

From his penthouse suite overlooking some lake or other, Mr Briatore pulled his cashmere kung fu style gown tighter to his corpulent belly, lit a cigar the size of a healthy cucumber and decided…enough! Now we do it my way.

Who is to say that this isn’t going to work, sure it’s not been a great start, but surely this is just a beginning. If a new stadium is out of the question for now, then why not maximise the revenue from the old, 15,000 corporate ‘guests’ all paying ten-year debentures. Season tickets rising to a point where only those using them as tax write offs can afford to go. The newly imagined crest eventually resplendent with Flavio’s likeness in the middle and the white in the current kit replaced by green.

Polite applause will replace those that once booed their own players, pigbag will be replaced by the classic penny whistle and teapot Italian national anthem, supermodels will parade along the touchline before kick off replacing whatever that current mascot is supposed to be.

Why not, nothing else has worked for years. Let him pick the team; let any of us pick it. We’d probably end up in exactly the same place.

The alternative is…? Exactly! No one is rushing to invest in football clubs now. The likes of Steve Gibson only come along once in a blue moon (or maybe even just once!). Let’s give the man his head, lets tell him he looks great, that everyone believes his girlfriends are attracted to his killer personality and the that super new crest will eventually grow on us. Lets go get deluded.

It can’t be any worse than the excruciating slow death we are currently ‘enjoying’.

So lets embrace the ‘project’, enjoy our ‘boutique-ness’ and hope for seventh…can you imagine this shower giver the oxygen of Premier League publicity?

Time for another drink!

 We have just taken 6 points off two clubs that are in the promotion and play off spots on our last two home games.  We are in 7^th place, only goal difference separating us from the play-off place.  And yet, if you read some of the comments on here and other message boards you’d think we were worse off than this time last year (think back and try not to shudder). 

Was Saturday’s game a good one?  No, but let’s consider two things before we criticise.  Firstly the weather was pretty awful; the field was and the wind was howling around the stadium greasy which makes passing difficult.  Secondly, lets give some credit to Cardiff.  They went down to 10 men but organised themselves very well.  When we got points against Birmingham, Norwich and Brizzle C after going down to ten men, we congratulated ourselves on a job well done.  But because the shoe is on the other foot, it’s all doom and gloom from our supporters. 

Don’t get me wrong, I have a few issues about Saturdays game – I didn’t like the way we effectively “declared” at 1-0 as opposed to going for a second.  I didn’t like the way that neither winger got past the opposing full back on the outside and put a cross in.  I didn’t like the way that Buzz was left on the bench, but then again I like it even less if is forced to play on the wing.  I don’t like the way we have an unsettled side (its noticeable the most impressive section of our team – the defence – is the most settled with Hall, Cerny and Stewart regulars.  So yes I have complaints, but I find it odd that words like pathetic, awful and shower of sh… are the first things I read when I get home after we’ve won. 

Where’s our sense of perspective gone?